Iranian investigators rushed to the scene of the accident for a reason, the evidence must be preserved.  They reported that the black boxes were found.  This was very important.   Boeing offered to help in the investigation, and they have very good reason for this, as it was a Boeing 737-800 which crashed.  Iran responded that it will not share the black box with Americans.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are the ones who should be assisting Iranian authorities.    Bloomberg News posted this opinion on their website:

“NTSB experts are widely recognized as among the best crash investigators in the world and they regularly participate in investigations at the behest of foreign governments, under a process outlined in Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.”

However, as pointed out in their post, US sanctions against Iran makes it difficult for the NTSB to act immediately.   The Bloomberg blog states:

American sanctions on Iran require NTSB investigators to procure a license from the Treasury Department in order to work with Iranian counterparts—such clearances can take as long as a year to be issued.

That’s terrible!   There are obvious safety concerns with sending Americans to Iran, but they would have to be invited to help in the investigation.   I suspect the details of the investigation will be shared with Canada and Ukraine, so through these countries, NTSB can gain important information.  Of the 176 passengers who died,  20 were Ukrainians, and 11 were Canadians.    The nationalities  of those who died is not really relevant when countries solicit the assistance of the NTSB.  but unfortunately in this case, the sanctions have interfered with the  highly technical matter of plan crash investigation.

It is a chance to cut through all the hostile rhetoric and help Iran with our expertise.    If the crash is due to a problem with the Boeing 737-800, then the knowledge gain can help improve the US fleet of aircraft.

A win-win situation.

See link below

Stay tuned,

Dave

Link:

An Opportunity in Iran’s Latest Tragedy
Trump should allow American experts to join the investigation into the crash of the Ukrainian airliner.